


Her Name Is Runner

by Alice_The_Wonders



Category: Original Work
Genre: Escape, Mental Health Issues, Mental Institutions, No Idea, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, could possibly be a series, i dont even know, i suck at the writing thing, possibly writing more, unbetad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 20:21:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13465836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_The_Wonders/pseuds/Alice_The_Wonders
Summary: One ShotTrapped in a mental institution for almost a lifetime and she gets a night out.





	Her Name Is Runner

She looked up at the moon. She had tears in her eyes but they weren’t tears of sadness. They were tears of freedom. She finally had freedom and on this summer night the sky was clear an she could see the stars clearly. She gazed into the moonlight and prayed that it wasn't a dream. Leaning down and slipping off her plain white canvas shoes. And started running. No destination in mind, not caring that she had left her shoes outside of the front door to the place she had been forced to call home for almost 10 years. She ran letting the fresh air heave into her lungs. Feeling the grass in between her toes. The great thing about being at the The Hawthorne Institution for the Criminally Insane, was that it was surrounded by 3 miles of open, clean, green grass in all directions surrounding the facility.

She ran until her lungs burned and her sight was blurry. When her legs finally gave up running she simply laid in the grass and stared at the stars. Normally she wasn’t allowed outside. She just watched the other patients wander outside. She actually felt bad for them when it was over 80 degrees and they were forced outside for their allowed hour and a half each day. She wasn’t meant to be here and she knew it. It was a false charge that landed her 20 years surrounded by people who mumbled to themselves, had random outbursts and everything else you would expect to see in one of these places. The orderlies had labeled her “Runner”, but she wasn't trying to escape. Well not at first anyway. At first she just missed being on the track team so she ran in circles around the building. But then one day she just ran straight and kept going. From then on she wasn’t herself, she wasn't even her number. She was Runner. It had been years since she had heard her own name. It didn’t even sound real when it was called out to her by the new nurse. It sounded like a distant memory and she flinched at the sound. 

As she laid in the grass and looked up at the stars she tried to remember her old life but to no avail. So she made the attempt to lock this moment away in her memories forever. If she could only have this night to herself she could die now and be happy. She closed her eyes and a face popped up in her head. A face she hadn’t thought about in a long while. A face she was certain hadn’t thought about her either. Possibly in the beginning but not now. Certainly not now. Definitely not now. She opened her eyes and reached her hand to the sky trying to grab each shard of it in her hands as if it they were tangible pieces of glass that she could cut her palms on. Tears still streaming from her eyes she dropped her hand and gripped at the grass. Digging into the soil with her fingertips feeling the coolness of it. She was brought back to reality by a birdwhistle. A bird seeming out of place in the dead of night. A signal calling her back to her world of white linoleum and scents of cleaning fluid. She continued digging into the ground until the call was sounded a second time. She rose and made her way back to the doors. Staring at the moon without a word as she reentered her home. She embraced her nurse thanking her, realizing how much trouble she could get into for letting Runner out and wished she didn't mean it when she said, “Just this once.” She made her way solemnly back to her room and laid down. She was exhausted, she forgot how it felt and she loved it. It was better than the drug induced haze her medication kept her on. She drifted to sleep still feeling the dirt under her nails. The only reminder that her little exploration outside was indeed real. That it wasn’t just another daydream she had while her medicine kicked in. She had spent her 21st birthday outside.

**Author's Note:**

> Im not sure if i want this to turn into a story or series about her escape or not. Let me know in the comments what you guys think. Do you wanna see more.


End file.
